CHICAGO — Dale Earnhardt Jr. considers the last five days a fascinating time for NASCAR but he is not concerned about the sport’s integrity.

He is surprised by the shock over the issue of drivers giving up spots on the track to help a teammate and he is confused over the impact of the penalties on Michael Waltrip Racing.

In addressing the state of the sport on Chase media day Thursday at Chicago’s Navy Pier, Earnhardt said that he’s happy NASCAR issued penalties against MWR for manipulating the finish of the race Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.

“I kind of get frustrated when they say, ‘Don’t let us get involved, don’t fool around on these restarts and get us in the middle of this,’” Earnhardt said. “I want them in the middle of this. Get in there and do it. We need that. We need them to have that control.

“They do a really good job but leaving it in our hands is probably not very smart because we’re going to try to work in that gray area.”

The gray area of what’s acceptable to help a teammate was exposed at Richmond. NASCAR issued points penalties, fines and a suspension to MWR for trying to manipulate the race to get Martin Truex Jr. into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Bowyer appeared to spin intentionally and Brian Vickers was ordered to come down pit road prior to the final restart to help improve Truex’s finish.

The 50-point “pre-Chase” penalties stripped Truex of his Chase spot but left Bowyer virtually unscathed because even with the 50-point penalty, he remained in the top 10 and now has the same points after Chase points were reset.

“I read the fines and penalties and then I looked at the points and I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Earnhardt said. “I need to sit down and think of NASCAR, why they chose to do it the way they did it and see what the logic was behind it.

“I am sure it makes a lot of sense. I definitely don’t need to be running the sport.”

If NASCAR’s goal is deter people from doing it again, it has done its job, Earnhardt said.

“NASCAR felt like they needed to deter this type of activity,” Earnhardt said. “That was a good move for the sport long term … I think they (at MWR) actually got off easy as far as the penalties and fines.

“They got off pretty easy, especially Clint. He’s relatively unaffected. If you did it again, you’re really going to be asking for trouble.”

Earnhardt said he wasn’t criticizing Bowyer or MWR because what they did has been done in the past. He also said NASCAR can use the computer telemetry from the brake and throttle on Bowyer’s car to know if Bowyer spun on purpose.

“We don’t have to get the pitchforks out and go after Clint Bowyer,” Earnhardt said. “I’m just saying that if you wanted to know what happened, it would be pretty easy to figure it out without needing Clint to admit what he did.

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal that night. I think the penalties were a big surprise. I don’t think anybody anticipated NASCAR really doing much about it.”

Earnhardt said he felt bad for Truex and Jeff Gordon, although he stopped short from saying that Gordon, his teammate, should be in the Chase just because he was in position to make the Chase when Bowyer spun. He said there is no way to know what might have happened without the Bowyer spin.

“You feel bad for Martin — he probably had no idea what was going on,” Earnhardt said. “You feel bad for Jeff because he had worked his way all night long to get into a position and I feel bad for Clint. I know Clint and I know what kind of person he is.

“I feel bad for him because he’s part of something that is not a good reflection of his personality. It’s unfortunate, but he’ll be fine.”

And the sport will be fine, too, he said.

“I don’t think the integrity is damaged,” Earnhardt said. “This type of activity and this type of mentality, it doesn’t happen every race and maybe not every year.

“It’s a bit of a product of the Chase, but the idea of doing that is commonplace and has happened in year’s past. Drivers like myself have created cautions spinning out, we have thrown stuff out of cars to get cautions for certain reasons. That’s nothing new. The integrity is in tact completely and I wouldn’t question it going forward. I am not worried about (whether) the races are on the up-and-up.”